THOMAS BOCKDec 6, 2017 - Mar 11, 2018Ikon presents the first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of convict artist Thomas Bock (c.1793 - 1855). Comprising a selection of drawings, paintings and photographs, it demonstrates not only Bock’s technical skill, but also his sensitivity to a wide range of subject matter.press release

HAROON MIRZA : REALITY IS SOMEHOW WHAT WE EXPECT IT TO BENov 30, 2018 - Feb 24, 2019This is the most comprehensive exhibition of work by Haroon Mirza in the UK to date, filling Ikon’s exhibition spaces with moving imagery, sculptural installation and electronic sound. Involving smart sampling, sometimes through collaboration with other artists, Mirza’s practice overall is characterised by a knowing eclecticism and sheer physical impact. His (mis)understanding of the nature of human perception – of what and how we see and hear – is demonstrated and combined with countless possibilities of meaning, and so his aesthetic proposition is more to do with messages received than those transmitted, circumscribed by our constitutions, testing the limits of what we can experience and what we think we know.press release

MATTHEW KRISHANU : A MURDER OF CROWSJan 8 - Mar 10, 2019Dozens of Matthew Krishanu’s painted crows will be displayed throughout Ikon’s neo-gothic premises. Always painted singly and never in flight they appear almost anthropomorphic on their twin legs, whether looking directly at the viewer or stepping away.

Mischievous, malevolent and sometimes comical, Krishanu’s birds are partly inspired by crows in art and literature; for example, ‘Crow’ by Ted Hughes, Edgar Allan Poe’s raven, or the mythical crows of trickster tales. Inspired by bird watching in England, they are also signifiers of Krishanu’s childhood in Bangladesh where crows were always close by, cawing in trees or pecking at rubbish dumps.

The exhibition coincides with Matthew Krishanu’s The Sun Never Sets at MAC Birmingham (12 January – 10 March 2019).

HEW LOCKE: HERE'S THE THINGMar 8 - Jun 2, 2019This will be the most comprehensive exhibition to date of work by Hew Locke, involving a wide range of media – painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation – making extensive use of collage and found objects.